Re: Richardostesia teeth

[ackolbert@aol.com]

Thanks, but I'm a bit confused as to the origin of the attribution.  
Are there any other animals that have both serrated and unserrated 
teeth within a species?  Further, R.gil. (classic raptor shape, both 
serrated and unserrated) and R.sp (straight isoceles triangle shape) 
are so different, I wonder why they are both attributed to 
Richardostesia in the first place?

-----Original Message-----
From: tholtz@geol.umd.edu
To: ackolbert@aol.com; dinosaur@usc.edu
Sent: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 8:04 AM
Subject: RE: Richardostesia  teeth

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]On Behalf 
Of
> ackolbert@aol.com
>
>  I have seen teeth attributed to Richardostesia both very straight 
and with
significant curvature (Dromeosauer
> albertensis like), both with and without serrations.  Are there 
multiple
species here or are they all from the same
> animal, but different types of teeth?  Can anyone set me straight 
here?
Thanks,

Wish we could set you straight, but unfortunately Richardoestesia 
remains rather
mysterious. With the exception of a pair of slender
dentaries, we do not have (or at least do not recognize as having) any 
fossils
of this dinosaur other than teeth. And while people
have given various species names to the different tooth forms (R. 
gilmorei, R.
isoceles), we honestly don't know if these represent
different species, different growth stages, different parts of the jaw 
(dentary
vs. maxillary), different tooth positions, etc.

One of these days someone is going to find parts of the rest of this 
dinosaur,
and hopefully that will help us sort things out.

Hope this helps,

       Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
   Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology       Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland      College Park Scholars
   Mailing Address:
       Building 237, Room 1117
       College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661   Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796



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